Reading: The Little Book of the Tudors & Film: Lady Vengeance

I was planning to see a film yesterday - and Lady Vengeance was the most interesting thing topping my list: a Korean film about a young woman, unjustly imprisoned, who on release, well, seeks vengeance. I didn't have time in the end, but hoped to get to it at some point today. Amazon Prime again.

Meantime, back to Meetup today - London Social Detours had Part Six of her reading of The Little Book of the Tudors. My first Meetup in over two weeks.. and the first of this series I've been able to attend, midweek as they are. Well, I might not enjoy her reading style - but I am interested in the Tudors! Free, for once - probably because most attendees were also logging into her second event, later in the evening, and paying for that. Donations were suggested though - I passed.

It had to happen - as I logged on (admittedly without trouble), it was to a small panic that she couldn't get her slideshow to display. There's always something. But she got it working in the end, and despite her internet freezing a couple of times, and kicking her out of screen sharing the second time, we got it done. This was quite a short chapter she was reading - which turned out to be a good thing, as about half the group wanted to drop out early to see what was going to be said in the UK government's press conference. They needn't have bothered, of course - it was as vague and wishy-washy as ever.

Can't say it was a terribly interesting chapter - this one was about buildings of the era, and she had some illustrations to show us, and some words about how the new style of building had larger windows, with more glass, what with there being less warfare. In fact, it seems that Henry VII - ever paranoid about threats to his authority - banned the building of fortifications, and granted very few licences for renovations of old ones. He'd grown up in an era of private armies, so you could hardly blame him! Seemed to work, at any rate - there was to be little internal warfare from then on.

The chat afterwards was, necessarily, brief - even those of us who had no interest in the press conference were cut off, as she said she had to consult with her pal, who was giving this evening's talk. But it was, as ever, good to talk to people from Meetup - they have very few meetings that I can make, now.

And so to tonight, when - with a gap in decent tv programming - I finally caught up with Lady Vengeance. You know, I'll never forget my first foray into Korean cinema, which was with the horror film, Two Sisters. It was - to me - completely original, and despite the subject matter, quite delightful. And you'll never guess - I certainly couldn't have anticipated it - but Lady Vengeance struck me in much the same way.

It looks absolutely beautiful - in the midst of some very bleak storytelling, you'll suddenly be presented with a quietly beautiful image. The soundtrack, predominantly classical but with exquisite original compositions, is divine. (As someone muses in the comments, why is Vivaldi so perfect for a revenge theme..?) It's speckled with some very black humour, particularly in the prison sequences - don't miss it. And overall, it's gorgeously surreal - think Fargo in tone, but with more style. I'm not going to go into it in much detail - but dump all your standard ideas of revenge. This particular formula for revenge is just so perfect. And once it's revealed - actually, it seems to occur to her halfway through - I was just riveted.. Seriously, I can't remember when I last saw a film this good.. quite stunning.

Well, let's hope my run of luck with film continues! Back to film tomorrow - and I think I'll try La Chienne. This time, it's on the Sands Films playlist.

Play: Blueprint Medea

Well now, I'm taking this week off work! Simply, I need to use up my leave - and could do with the break. So, expect me to schedule something or other for every day this week. And, for a change, Meetup provided me with something to do yesterday! (Not live, mind - they were meeting in the evening again, so I couldn't meet them, but I could watch the show anytime.) Wouldn't you know it, Up in the Cheap Seats got back to scheduling things online - they took a break from that for a while there; doubtless the increased viral spread prompted their decision to schedule online again. Finborough Theatre is broadcasting a play called Blueprint Medea on YouTube, for free - the theme transmutes the original Medea play to the story of a Kurdish refugee in London. Yippee, it's been weeks since I saw a play! And I see the theatre has a few on offer..

In the event, I got caught up doing other stuff - easily done - and only got to watch it now. It's about an hour and a half, straight through - with a large cast, for such a small theatre. The quality of the video isn't marvellous - it's from a live performance last year, obviously never meant for broadcast, and the visuals break up a bit. The audio is quite muffled in parts - towards the end, I found it useful to display subtitles, or I'd never have known what they were saying.

Well, it's based on a Greek play, which might explain some of the performances - especially towards the beginning, they seemed stilted to me. Perhaps they were weighted down by history - whatever, it makes for sluggish watching. And while Medea does go crazy in the end (spoiler!), I thought she was unnecessarily intense throughout - a breakdown waiting to happen, rather than inspired by events in the course of the play. Hey-ho.

As in the original, she's with Jason - except in this case, that's just what he calls himself; he's Muslim, and called Mohammed, but thinks Jason "Jay" is cooler. And they have two sons. But hey, his father disapproves, and finds him another bride. And so Medea exacts a dreadful revenge, using both his sons and his new wife..

It isn't only about that - we see a snippet of her coming to London, getting a place in a hostel as a refugee: but she has trouble there, and ends up moving out and working in the black economy. She's working as a cleaner at the gym where Jay works out - that's how they meet. And as we get flashbacks of her Kurdish experience, we see how it moulded her - and how it hurts her when others in her English class don't even know where Kurdistan is. Desperate for acceptance, we see how invested she is in her relationship with Jay; however, his background won't allow him to consider a future with her - pay attention if you ever thought that refugees' backgrounds were all the same. I thought the way she exacted revenge on his fiancée was an interesting touch..

I nodded off a bit during the first half - thought it picked up when they'd had the kids and the story started to progress. The first half, however, I found weak - it had things to say, but I felt the points made were underdeveloped. But hey, it's an interesting play. Showing till the 14th of November.

I was planning to see a film today - and Lady Vengeance is the most interesting thing topping my list, currently: a Korean film about a young woman, unjustly imprisoned, who on release, well, seeks vengeance. I don't think I'll watch it tonight, but will hopefully get to it at some point tomorrow. Amazon Prime again.

Meantime, back to Meetup tomorrow - London Social Detours has Part Six of her reading of The Little Book of the Tudors. My first Meetup in over two weeks.. and the first of these I've been able to attend, midweek as they are. Well, I might not enjoy her reading style - but I am interested in the Tudors!

Film: The Farewell

Today, on Meetup, Experience London Events, Concerts & Parties streamed a concert from the U.S. However, they had the wrong time on it - it obviously happened later in the day here, so at 10pm rather than 10am, as advertised. So, not feasible for me. And London Social Detours was on in the evening, unusually - so I had to resort to film again. I had a few choices, including a couple of films that I heard of, but never got around to seeing. So I picked The Farewell, in which a Chinese family not only cannot bring themselves to tell their grandmother she's dying, but arrange to have a wedding before she passes away.. Available on Amazon Prime.

Wow, I was delighted to see this come up! I remember the trailers being very good, and really wanted to see it when it was out - but you know, there's so much choice in London. And having watched the whole thing.. I can testify, it's terrific! Subtly funny, it made me laugh out loud - several times. It's based on a true story, and the perspective - of the granddaughter raised in the States, who's as much an outsider to this culture as we are - allows us to appreciate the weirdness of her family as she does herself.

Of course, we all lie - all the time: as shown in the very first scene, where the granny phones her granddaughter, to whom she's very close, and asks whether she's wearing a hat, as she's heard New York is very cold. "Yes," she lies, before hearing a strange noise in the background and asking where her granny is. So now granny lies about being round at a neighbour's house, when she's actually at the hospital for a test. And so it goes on. The major lie in the background, of course, underpins every scene - and it is hilarious to watch the family trying to act happy about the upcoming wedding (which has been fast-tracked especially, so those who don't know think the bride must be expecting a baby..). She, by the way, is Japanese - also an outsider, who gives a speech at the reception, for which she must have an interpreter..

It's poignant too, as East and West clash in the form of the granddaughter fighting with the family, who make it a cultural thing to hide this illness from gran. But mainly, this is a really funny film, made with obvious affection. Highly recommended - delighted I got to see it, at last.

Well now, I'm taking this week off work! Simply, I need to use up my leave - and could do with the break. So, expect me to schedule something or other for every day this week. And, for a change, Meetup is providing me with something to do tomorrow! (Not live, mind - they're meeting in the evening again, so I can't meet them, but I can watch the show anytime.) Wouldn't you know it, Up in the Cheap Seats is back to scheduling things online - they took a break from that for a while there; doubtless the increased viral spread prompted their decision to schedule online again. Finborough Theatre is broadcasting a play called Blueprint Medea on YouTube, for free - the theme transmutes the original Medea play to the story of a Kurdish refugee in London. Yippee, it's weeks since I saw a play! And I see the theatre has a few on offer..

Film: The Goat

Tomorrow, on Meetup, Experience London Events, Concerts & Parties is streaming a concert from the U.S. However, they have the wrong time on it - it's obviously happening later in the day here, so it's happening at 10pm rather than 10am, as advertised. So, not feasible for me. And London Social Detours is on in the evening, unusually - so I have to resort to film again. The next on my list was a comedy short from Buster Keaton called The Goat - and interestingly, is on a new platform for me! Findable on the Internet Archive..

Now, I was going to watch this tomorrow. But for heavens' sake, there was so little on telly that I said I might as well watch it now! It's only a short, anyway. Quality is excellent, I have to say. And while it is, of course, very dated, it's still a madcap romp - very little plot required, but basically, he's a down-and-out who (through the most improbable circumstances) gets mistaken for an escaped murderer. Lots of rather funny daftness ensues. And yes, he gets the girl.

For tomorrow, I now have a few choices, including a couple of films that I heard of, but never got around to seeing. So I think I'll pick The Farewell, in which a Chinese family not only cannot bring themselves to tell their grandmother she's dying, but arrange to have a wedding before she passes away.. Available on Amazon Prime.

Film: Budrus

Film again today. The next film on my list actually jumped in rating since I listed it - so I watched Budrus, on Reel Palestine again. This is the true story of how a village mobilised people from all factions to prevent the Israeli army building a wall through the middle of it - which would, incidentally, destroy their olive groves. Only became a feasible protest when the women got involved, it turns out!

I see that U.S. viewers have to pay - for me, all I had to do to stream for free was subscribe to the Just Vision mailing list. Fine, I can unsubscribe if it gets annoying. Starts out with a great soundtrack and some beautiful footage. This isn't really an easy watch though, as the army moves in and things deteriorate. It is good that the film interviews both sides - I actually couldn't believe what I was hearing, with the Israeli captain saying that their prime objective was to protect Israeli civilians. Israeli. As if there's a difference. Later, the protests attract left-wing Israeli activists - the army is quoted as saying that they are not allowed to use force against Israelis. No, but they can fire rubber bullets and tear gas, and use batons, on the Palestinians..

The other Israeli soldier interviewed personally is a woman, who gives an interesting perspective - the Palestinian women were shouting at her in particular, saying they could make her a match with their sons! But while she is sorry for the loss of the olive trees, she is ultimately unsympathetic, saying that if that's what needs to be done, it needs to be done. And I don't blame the soldiers - they were doing as they were told.

The protests ultimately attract massive international support - including a South African anti-apartheid group, who travelled all that way to tell them that the best solution was for everyone to live together. The scenes towards the end are disturbing, as violence breaks out - as someone says, these are nonviolent protests, but when the army provokes people that far, some will start to throw stones. And to be fair, there are always idiots who think that's the way to solve things. That, combined with the international attention, forces the government's hand - and, despite the intransigent deputy defence minister who's interviewed about it on the news, the villagers get their way - the wall is still built, but no longer through their olive groves, or the cemetery. I had to laugh when the captain came on again to say that well, people will say that's because of the protests, but it was a political decision..

Tomorrow, on Meetup, Experience London Events, Concerts & Parties is streaming a concert from the U.S. However, they have the wrong time on it - it's obviously happening later in the day here, so it's happening at 10pm rather than 10am, as advertised. So, not feasible for me. And London Social Detours is on in the evening, unusually - so I have to resort to film again. The next on my list is a comedy short from Buster Keaton called The Goat - and interestingly, is on a new platform for me! Findable on the Internet Archive..

Film: Mrs. Brown's Boys D' Movie

This week, we had a midweek movie on telly - doesn't always happen. And this week.. would you believe, it was Mrs. Brown's Boys: D' Movie! Now, I was in two minds whether to watch this, with its poor ratings - but I do enjoy the tv show.. and my mother was keen.. and so I said we'd give it a shot.

So, as you'd expect, it includes the whole clan, with a feature-length story and several guest performers. In fact, we spent most of the film gawping at famous faces (famous in Ireland, at least). Comedian June Rodgers shows up as a stallholder on Moore Street, where, for the purposes of the story, Mrs. Brown also has a stall. Simon Delaney is the lawyer that Mrs. Brown hires when nefarious characters try to oust her from her stall. Sorcha Cusack (unmistakeably a Cusack, although I wasn't sure which) is the judge presiding over Buster's trial for matters unrelated. Jon Kenny is the injured party in that case. Radio presenter Joe Duffy plays himself, interviewing Mrs. Brown, who has become a national celebrity - and tv presenter Eamonn Holmes comes on as a newscaster, giving the tv news story. Frank Kelly is the judge in her case. Also apparently features Keith Duffy, who fairly escaped my attention as a security guard! I mustn't have been paying enough attention.

Well, I am very glad I watched it! Comedy is subjective, and whether you enjoy this depends very much on how you feel about the tv show. The comedy is completely madcap - and we found the extended chase scene utterly hilarious. Plenty of bad language, of course - only to be expected. And all the familiar elements we love are there too. Watch out for bloopers over the closing credits.. one of which was actually left in the scene! Oh, and there's an excellent soundtrack. Quite simply, if you like the tv show and want more, this is the film for you.

Meantime, film again on Saturday. The next film on my list has actually jumped in rating since I listed it - so the plan is to watch Budrus, on Reel Palestine again. This is the true story of how a village mobilised people from all factions to prevent the Israeli army building a wall through the middle of it - which would, incidentally, destroy their olive groves. Only became a feasible protest when the women got involved, it turns out! (Didn't work, in the end, of course..)

Storytelling: On Common Ground - the Life and Times of John Clare

Today, wouldya believe it, I was back with the Crick Crack Club! This was a live-streamed event from King's Place, which I booked last Christmas (!), and which took place at the venue: but with the live streaming, I asked for my ticket to be changed to a virtual one. After all, the Irish government wouldn't let me go back in time for it! (Well, they would've, but I'd have had to quarantine upon coming back to Ireland. And even if I did do that, I don't want to risk it, as I'm living with my elderly mother.) Means I had to miss this weekend's London Social Detours Meetup, which this week was today, but what the hey. Anyway, the storytelling was On Common Ground - The Life and Times of John Clare, as told by Hugh Lupton.

So, no special link required - I just had to log onto my account on the King's Place website. I joined the live stream a minute or two late, would you believe - even with 0 commuting time! - but never mind, storytelling never starts on the dot, and I joined the others waiting. People joined gradually - at the most, there were 66 people on the stream.

In due course, we saw the venue - Ben Haggarty was MC-ing, and oh, what a joy to see him stride across the stage! Even in a mask (which he soon removed). Some heads were visible in the audience - it was hard to see what they'd done about social distancing, but it looked as though some chairs had been removed. In Hall Two, where this took place, the chairs are free-standing, which makes it easier. Anyway, I half expected Ben to break into the Crick Crack chant, but he didn't - perhaps self-conscious about all the people watching online, whom he couldn't see.

Hugh came on in a more self-effacing manner, confiding in us how good it was to be back storytelling after six months! Now, he specialises in tales of olde England.. and today's tale had to do with enclosures. So he explained to us how John Clare lived at the time of what he called the Second Enclosure, at the end of the 18th / beginning of the 19th Century, when what had been common ground for centuries was suddenly fenced off, for the express use of the gentry, while the common folk lost a common source of income, losing the ability to feed livestock on commonage.

He draws a direct comparison between that and what happened after the Norman conquest, with what was called the "forestation" of England - where before had been the greenwood, used by all for game and firewood, now the forests were owned by the gentry, and common folk who were caught hunting, or collecting brushwood there, would be crippled or killed. Hence the stories of Robin Hood, as he explained, who represents the common man, living in the greenwood, and fighting the establishment, in the form of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Clare, in fact, apparently wrote a couple of Robin Hood stories himself.

And so, back to Clare. Hugh wove an absolutely spellbinding, poetic version of his lifestory, his love of the countryside, and his love for the daughter of a local landowner. Clare himself, being dirt poor, had no chance with her father - for her part, forbidden from marrying him, she never married at all, it seems. Ironically, he became a well-known poet, feted in the highest circles as the "peasant poet" - Hugh told an amusing anecdote about a posh couple who arrived at the Clares' cottage one evening, looking for the celebrated poet, and were rather nonplussed at what they found..

Clare went mad at the end of his life, apparently - which Hugh attributes to the enclosures, which may well be true, as he was deprived of the ability to wander freely, as he once had. And the story is told in Hugh's inimitable style - with accompaniment of both bodhrán and Tibetan singing bowl, this was a gorgeous and memorable experience. How I've missed storytelling..! It was just over an hour long, but so worth watching. Happily, if I want to repeat the experience, it is available for another week.. and I must really get around to listening to the cd of Hugh Lupton, accompanied by Nick Hennessy, called Liberty Tree, which I bought ages ago! and only just rediscovered. (Speaking of recordings, I never realised he had so many on his website - must get around to watching some, some day.)

Sadly, there was yet more storytelling at King's Place this evening - Ben Haggarty performed Storytelling for Grownups - the Grateful and the Dead. But that wasn't live-streamed. :-( Live only, with social distancing, and sold out a while ago. Of course. And wouldn't you know it, the Crick Crack Club has no further events scheduled.. Roll on the end of this lockdown nightmare.

Meantime, film again on Saturday - anything on Meetup is happening too late. The next film on my list has actually jumped in rating since I listed it - so the plan is to watch Budrus, on Reel Palestine again. This is the true story of how a village mobilised people from all factions to prevent the Israeli army building a wall through the middle of it - which would, incidentally, destroy their olive groves. Only became a feasible protest when the women got involved, it turns out! (Didn't work, in the end, of course..)

Film: The Company of Strangers / Strangers in Good Company

Well, with most Meetups happening in person now (and me unable to join), I looked at film again for today. And what was coming up now isn't on Amazon Prime, for once - nope, it's on the Sands Films website! The best option there was The Company of Strangers (aka Strangers in Good Company), about a group of elderly women whose minibus breaks down in Canada, in the middle of nowhere, forcing them to spend the night in each other's company. Mostly ad-libbed.

Typically for Sands Films, they started streaming too early - for goodness' sake, the first 11 minutes or so has us staring at a clock, while the mc comes on occasionally to do a synch test. Finally, the camera switches, and he gives an introductory speech - they used to have weekly film clubs (which I never attended), and I guess he's done this every time. I think the film proper starts after about 18 minutes.

This is a really, really slow film. I dozed off during it. And frankly, several of the women annoyed me - for various reasons - and I don't think I could have stuck a real-life impromptu camping trip with them. But the scenery is beautiful, and while I'm a bit dubious how well elderly women would really cope without much to eat, or anywhere comfy to sleep, for about 24 hours, maybe Canadian women are hardier, eh? Anyway, what we get are a variety of scenes of women pairing off in twos and threes, in which we learn more about their characters. We also get old photos of them - which I believe are genuine - and they talk a bit about their past lives. So I guess, the point is that we are being reminded that there's more to old ladies than creaky bones! Interesting, then - but I found it productive to be doing something else while it was on. 

Tomorrow, wouldya believe it, I'm back with the Crick Crack Club! This is a live-streamed event from King's Place, which I booked last Christmas (!), and which is taking place at the venue: but with the live streaming, I asked for my ticket to be changed to a virtual one. After all, the Irish government won't let me go back in time for it! (Well, they would, but I'd have to quarantine upon coming back to Ireland. And even if I did do that, I don't want to risk it, as I'm living with my elderly mother.) Means I'll have to miss this weekend's London Social Detours Meetup, which this week is tomorrow, but what the hey. Anyway, the storytelling is On Common Ground - The Life and Times of John Clare, as told by Hugh Lupton. Sadly, there's yet more storytelling there that evening - Ben Haggarty is performing Storytelling for Grownups - the Grateful and the Dead. But that's not being live-streamed. :-( Live only, with social distancing, and sold out a while ago. Of course.

Film: Unquiet Graves

I wasn't expecting to be watching a film tonight. What was on telly wasn't advertised as a film - but was film-length, and has an IMDB entry. And is narrated by Stephen Rea. Unquiet Graves is a feature-length documentary about collusion between British forces in Northern Ireland, and Loyalist paramilitaries. And I'm very glad I watched it.

I was a kid when all this happened, you know - and mercifully, it never touched me personally, being from the other end of the island. All I ever knew about NI was what I heard on the nightly news - bombings, shootings, kidnappings.. But I was surprised that what this film contains also came as news to my mother. I guess she was busy with me at the time, not that interested in politics - and we didn't know anyone from there. Of course, you'd have been out of your mind to go there on holiday!

Everyone knows there was collusion. I was surprised, however, to learn that Loyalist paramilitaries were actually recruited to the UDR! (This was the Ulster Defence Regiment, a branch of the British army that only operated in Northern Ireland.) And as you might expect, they began a reign of terror against the Catholic, nationalist community - I'd forgotten that there were refugee camps in the Republic, to which some 10,000 fled from the butchery. Catholics were being shot in their homes, on the roads if they were unlucky enough to come across a fake checkpoint - and, of course, there were the pub bombings. Primarily, the film deals with the Glennane gang, an unholy alliance of the UDR, RUC (police), and UVF (paramilitaries), which was responsible for the murder of some 120 Catholics.

Includes interviews with people involved (on both sides), and a very interesting interview with a quite shocked member of the Met, who - investigating, years later - simply couldn't believe that the police knew all the facts, but didn't seem at all interested in opening any kind of investigation. Indeed - but what would you expect from an establishment that never imprisons any of its own? It sickens me when I hear them try to extend their authority to have soldiers and police avoid prosecution.

And what honour can you expect from an establishment that, as we speak, is trying to renege on an international treaty, which took years to negotiate, and which they themselves pushed through last year: before deciding, just recently, that no, actually, they don't like it after all.. Even they acknowledge that to break it would violate international law. They just don't care. So - do you think that this is the kind of government that gives a fig about justice and the rule of law in Northern Ireland? A political entity created by the British, who are now trying to blame the EU for bringing it up, saying they're using it as a stick to beat them with. No, this is not a government from which you can expect justice.

Well, with most Meetups happening in person now (and me unable to join), I'm looking at film again for Saturday. And what's coming up now isn't on Amazon Prime, for once - nope, it's on the Sands Films website! The best option there seems to be The Company of Strangers (aka Strangers in Good Company), about a group of elderly women whose minibus breaks down in Canada, in the middle of nowhere, forcing them to spend the night in each other's company. Mostly ad-libbed.

And on Sunday, wouldya believe it, I'm back with the Crick Crack Club! This is a live-streamed event from King's Place, which I booked last Christmas (!), and which is taking place at the venue: but with the live streaming, I asked for my ticket to be changed to a virtual one. After all, the Irish government is very unlikely to let me go back in time for it! (Well, they would, but I'd have to quarantine upon coming back to Ireland. And even if I did do that, I don't want to risk it, as I'm living with my elderly mother.) Means I'll have to miss next weekend's London Social Detours Meetup, which this time is on Sunday, but what the hey. Anyway, the storytelling is On Common Ground - The Life and Times of John Clare, as told by Hugh Lupton. Sadly, there's yet more storytelling there that evening - Ben Haggarty is performing Storytelling for Grownups - the Grateful and the Dead. But that's not being live-streamed. :-( Live only, with social distancing, and already sold out. Of course.

Film: Dirtbag - The Legend of Fred Beckey

Today - back to Amazon Prime, where the next most interesting film was one I hadn't looked at before, because I thought I didn't have it. "Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey" gives no results, but "Dirtbag" on its own gives exactly that film! Anyway, it's about a climber - and I always like climbing films.

So yes, lots of beautiful mountain shots - and Fred Beckey (of whom I'd never heard) turns out to have been a helluva guy. A "dirtbag" (at least in this context) turns out to be someone who dedicates their whole life to climbing, having no regular job, living on the road. Our Fred, mind you, was a breed apart - he had an absolutely single-minded passion for climbing. Particularly first ascents (mountains that hadn't been climbed before). Frankly, after he'd been through, there weren't very many of those left! He made more first ascents than any other North American climber.. (although he was German by birth). His parents moved to Seattle when he was a baby - and he grew up in one of the best places in the world for mountaineering, with the Rockies on his doorstep. Many of his climbs were in Alaska.

He's described during the film as "the climbers' climber", and we get many amusing anecdotes of people being plagued to go on impromptu climbing trips with him. At a couple of points in the film, we have proof of his exploits as a ladies' man - one friend describes him as having a one-track mind; either he's thinking about climbing, or about women. And there's one montage of a whole stream of girlfriends! None ever got him to settle down, though. Interestingly, his only brother - who used to climb with him as a kid, but stopped when a climbing accident left him with a limp - became a successful opera singer, and moved back to Germany: but contrary to what the film implies, they didn't lose touch, and Fred visited him many times.

Still, he wasn't around - and much of the film shows Fred as a wizened old man, trying to complete climbs for his last book - his magnum opus, a compilation of his favourite climbs. Now, by this stage, he was in his 80s - and it's quite sad to watch him try desperately to do what he used to do easily, decades before, and now fails at. Having said that, he achieved more at that age than most of us could do in our prime - but he had been so good, you see, and couldn't accept that he was now weaker. As for the books! he wrote several - guidebooks for the climbs that he pioneered.

He really was a legend in his own lifetime, and several people testify to how good he was. Hell, the man even had a mountain in Alaska named for him! Someone remarks how he followed his passion, instead of towing the line - and who among us doesn't wish they'd done the same? Even if it did mean living out of his car, and snaffling free water refills and packets of ketchup and sugar at fast food restaurants. If he had it to do over, he probably wouldn't change a thing.

Well, with most Meetups happening in person now (and me unable to join), I'm looking at film again for Saturday. And what's coming up now isn't on Amazon Prime, for once - nope, it's on the Sands Films website! The best option there seems to be The Company of Strangers (aka Strangers in Good Company), about a group of elderly women whose minibus breaks down in Canada, in the middle of nowhere, forcing them to spend the night in each other's company. Mostly ad-libbed.

And next Sunday, wouldya believe it, I'm back with the Crick Crack Club! This is a live-streamed event from King's Place, which I booked last Christmas (!), and which is taking place at the venue: but with the live streaming, I asked for my ticket to be changed to a virtual one. After all, the Irish government is very unlikely to let me go back in time for it! (Well, they would, but I'd have to quarantine upon coming back to Ireland. And even if I did do that, I don't want to risk it, as I'm living with my elderly mother.) Means I'll have to miss next weekend's London Social Detours Meetup, which this time is on Sunday, but what the hey. Anyway, the storytelling is On Common Ground - The Life and Times of John Clare, as told by Hugh Lupton. Sadly, there's yet more storytelling there that evening - Ben Haggarty is performing Storytelling for Grownups - the Grateful and the Dead. But that's not being live-streamed. :-( Live only, with social distancing, and already sold out. Of course.

Talk on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle & Film: Larry Crowne

Today, I was free to be back with London Social Detours again - this time, it was a talk about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - always interesting.

So, I logged on a bit early - nearly everyone signed up, which was a decent number. And again, it was the organiser's colleague doing the presentation - thankfully. She had put together a very professional talk, as someone later remarked, which included some childhood photos. She then explained how he'd gone to medical school, and how someone there, with excellent powers of observation, had proved the inspiration for his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes. 

Particularly interesting was an old piece of video footage in which the man himself was interviewed. Only about 10 minutes long, it featured him speaking first about the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, and how he used him as a device to demonstrate logical ways of solving mysteries, which were never generally used before that. He'd said he'd continue afterwards to talk about spiritualism - however, she stopped the video before that point. Which I thought was very bad form - regardless of the content, it would have been interesting to see how he presented it: and it was only another five minutes.

Sure enough, when the group was discussing it afterwards, the talk centred first on spiritualism - until one old fuddy-duddy said, "why are we concentrating on this rubbish when we could be talking about something interesting?" So we switched to talking about Sherlock Holmes, his various incarnations, and indeed other detectives. And when we'd exhausted that, we were back to spiritualism - and the complainer had nothing to say; I guess he was satisfied. Finished, as usual, with a chat about Covid, and one American lady complaining about the tofu shortage..

Later tonight, after what I was watching on tv ended, I was channel-surfing.. there were things I definitely wasn't interested in, and there were two films in progress: not much to choose between them, both rom-coms, one with Eva Longoria, one with Tom Hanks. Ah well now, I really like Tom Hanks - so I ended up watching Larry Crowne - happily, the tv schedule was wrong, as usual, and it had only just started, so I got to see most of it.

This was, it seems, quite the vanity project for him - he produced, directed, co-wrote, and starred in it! It's a coming-of-age story for the middle-aged, where he plays a guy who's recently lost his job (and, it seems, his family) and decides to go back to college. George Takei shows up as his economics professor, Julia Roberts as his professor for some kind of public speaking class. Bryan Cranston is the overgrown kid she's married to. (You can see where this is going..) Rami Malek is one of his classmates.

And it's really feelgood. Well, with Tom Hanks involved, and no major disasters, it'd have to be.. Case in point was the inspired inclusion of Runnin' Down a Dream on the soundtrack. Man, it's so long since I heard that - and what a great driving song! Otherwise, nothing major really happens, but it is very watchable.

Tomorrow - back to Amazon Prime, where the next most interesting film is one I hadn't looked at before, because I thought I didn't have it. "Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey" gives no results, but "Dirtbag" on its own gives exactly that film! Anyway, it's about a climber - and I always like climbing films.

Film: Plastic China

With a gap in decent telly tonight, I headed back to Amazon Prime again. And the next along on my list was Plastic China. Yep, another environmental film - kind of.

More than just an environmental documentary, this focuses on a couple of families that work in a plastic recycling factory in China. You wouldn't believe it, but this place - a shanty town on the outskirts of Qingdao - has 5,000 of these factories - all, it seems, backyard operations, where plastic waste gets sorted and fed into a kind of mulcher, then ground down to sludge and made into pellets. And we follow the stories of a couple of families involved in this business - wading through waste, living in shit, among piles of plastic, sifting through it for something they can use.

The factory manager has ambitions for his son, wants him to go to school - disapproves mightily of his worker, who never went to school himself, spends his time and money drinking, and having more and more children.. and we focus a lot on this guy's children. He doesn't want to have to pay for them to go to school, says they can wait till they go back to their village in the country, where education is free. But my, the squalor they live in..

It's an education, for sure. We always knew China bought most plastic waste - here it is, in less-than-glorious technicolour. And this is what happens to it. But it's more about the people living amid the waste, who have hopes and dreams like anyone else. And you do have to wonder what's going to happen to these kids.. Completely non-political, this film is probably worth a look. Different perspective, for sure. And do stick with it - some interesting things do happen to them, it isn't all watching them sift through rubbish..

On Saturday, I'm free to be back with London Social Detours again - this time, it's a talk about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - always interesting.

Film: The True Cost

Today, back to film again, and back to Amazon Prime.. I had been thinking of Black Book, but on reflection, I do think that's the one I saw some years ago, and I didn't feel like rewatching it. So that brought me to The True Cost - a documentary about the impact of the fashion trade on the third world.

Curiously, it's less than an hour long - as opposed to the 1.5 hours advertised on IMDB. Definitely the same film, though. And I have to say, I was glad to find that out - frankly, this documentary is a few years old, and we have heard all of this before. And sure enough, I got distracted well before the end. But there are a few interesting aspects to it - the blatant capitalism, for example, of (yes, it would have to be American) newscasters literally espousing the virtues of sweatshops! Smacked to me of the medieval attitude that you should not aspire to be greater than God ordained you to be.. And then there was a piece about Black Friday, cleverly contrasting heaving mobs thronging department stores to the thronged streets of Dhaka - which, as we're told, houses 10% of the world's 40 million workers in garment manufacture.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Always good to be reminded, I guess. Not the most fun film I've ever seen, of course.

On Saturday, I'm free to be back with London Social Detours again - this time, it's a talk about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - always interesting.

Film: Essential Killing

Well, Saturday sure did see a lot of films on telly! The only one I ended up watching, though, sounded intriguing - Essential Killing follows the story of an escaped Taliban fighter, on the run in enemy territory.

And it is fascinating to see the story from his point of view! We get to see the brutality of the American troops, the verbal abuse, waterboarding.. and through the film, we also get a few flashbacks of his life before he became a fighter. The escape happens after an accident involving the van he's being transported in - he gets thrown clear, wriggles off into the undergrowth, and ultimately manages to sneak up on a policeman and grab his gun and car - with the gear to cut through his chains. And off he goes!

..through, eh, somewhere cold and snowy. (?) Turns out, upon reading up on it, it's Poland! I'd never realised, but yes, apparently they did practice rendition there. Anyway, it now becomes a survival journey, as he tries to survive the cold, while eluding his captors. And as the title implies, he kills when he must. He actually has no dialogue for the whole film - he refuses to talk to the military, and no-one else speaks his language. Basically intriguing film.. my only real quibble is the ending, which is so illogical that it must be metaphorical. As to what they're trying to say, though - your guess is as good as mine.

Tomorrow, back to film again, and back to Amazon Prime.. I had been thinking of Black Book, but on reflection, I do think that's the one I saw some years ago, and I don't feel like rewatching it. So I guess that brings me to The True Cost - a documentary about the impact of the fashion trade on the third world.

And next Saturday, I'm free to be back with London Social Detours again - this time, it's a talk about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - always interesting.

Play: Three Kings

Today.. tan ta ra! The Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And currently showing is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing until tonight, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I could make was today's matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They were to send me a Zoom link at least 24 hours beforehand - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott.. Postponed from weeks ago, as he's been in hospital (neither serious nor Covid-related, we're assured!). At last..

Wouldn't you know it, it clashed with this weekend's London Social Detours (LSD) Meetup. Couldn't be helped - I wouldn't miss Andrew Scott for that..

Well, I might have been worried when the link wasn't there 24 hours before start time - except that I was busy on yet another shopping trip for my mother. It's hard, you see, when there are no shops that you can get to without driving - just takes that bit longer. So when it pinged through, 23.5 hours before start time, I just said oh yes, I'd forgotten about the link! rather than being miffed. In fact, you couldn't miss it - they were very good, sent me a reminder email as well, and informed me that the link would be live an hour beforehand, and I should log in early, in case of technical difficulties. And today, they sent me yet another email when the link was live.. each containing the actual link, and instructions.

I watched on my work laptop, which gets better Zoom reception. Which made me available to the company's Delivery team, who had to get something out today. (Throws eyes to heaven.) I had to help them brand it - unfortunately, it took them forever to get something together for me to brand. Well, I logged on to see the play, slightly less than an hour early - caught the end of an informative short film they were showing, about the charitable work done by the Old Vic. Did my brief modicum of work for the team, then put myself on Do Not Disturb. Sadly, this didn't stop me getting pinged by team messages periodically throughout..

As explained to us in the Zoom call, we are automatically muted and our video disabled, so we don't have to worry about that. One unexpected and terrific touch is to have audience noise as we are waiting! I hadn't realised how much I'd missed the babble of an audience. Really, there's nothing like it, to build anticipation.. Information is passed through the chat window, we have a Q&A option if we run into problems, and we have options to subtitle, or audio describe the production - in French or English. And, just like in a regular theatre, the announcer comes on at regular intervals, to ask us to take our seats, and tell us how long till the performance is to start. (And as usual, she exaggerated slightly how short a time we had..)

A countdown announces the performance proper. Andrew Scott is, of course, alone on stage, filmed from different angles simultaneously - which I found occasionally distracting. The story has the actor telling us about his larger-than-life father; the "three kings" of the title is a coin game that his father taught to him. Don't tax yourself trying to work it out - he does explain it later on.

Lasting just over an hour, it's a brilliantly written piece - taking place over several years, it's not so much a description of the narrator's relationship with his father; it's more a character study of a man that it seems impossible to have a relationship with. The events of his life are at times so ludicrous as to be laugh-out-loud funny! And as the story progresses, it's interesting to see how the son resembles the father - and how he doesn't. And as for Andrew Scott.. compelling as ever, he switches between characters and accents with ease. Absolutely terrific, and highly recommended. As expected! There's one final show this evening - I can't imagine they have a limit on tickets, so if you're free, you should run and get one!

Tomorrow, back to film, and back to Amazon Prime.. I had been thinking of Black Book, but on reflection, I do think that's the one I saw some years ago, and I don't feel like rewatching it. So I guess that brings me to The True Cost - a documentary about the impact of the fashion trade on the third world.

And next Saturday, I'm free to be back with LSD again - this time, it's a talk about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - always interesting.

World Cinema Film Festival, Talk on Darwin, & Film: The Post

For Saturday, I was thinking film again. Next most interesting on my list, at the same rating, is Black Book - the story of a Jewish singer who infiltrates the Gestapo during WWII. Now, I've already seen something along these lines - but having watched the trailer for this, it isn't familiar, so I'm willing to give it a shot. However, I was suddenly presented with an alternative - Experience London Events, Concerts & Parties advertised the World Cinema Film Festival, which was online this year, and streaming for free over the weekend. Tickets from Eventbrite. I couldn't get many details of the programme, but it started on Saturday, and consisted of talks and short films. So I booked a ticket.

And that is indeed what I watched. The ticket included the link to the festival page - this is still available until Sunday, I believe, so with or without a ticket, you should still be able to watch, if you're interested. Very little information on the page, mind, just a couple of videos, and the names of the filmmakers and people questioned in the 1-1 Q&As. Each video runs for about 2.5 hours, and covers that day's entire content - annoyingly, although the filmmakers' names are given, as I say, no film names or durations are given, and no timings. Me, I skipped through all the Q&As, by the simple means of watching for long enough to see what the interviewee looked like, then clicking ahead, 10 minutes or so every time, until they weren't there any more. At which point I'd click back a little, catch the very end of their interview to make sure I wasn't missing anything, then just keep watching for the film.

Of the first day's films, honestly, the only one I felt was worth the effort was the very first, which was an interesting series of snippets from Caribbean immigrants to the UK. The younger ones' poetry and music mixed nicely with the older ones' stories of how they were discriminated against ("No blacks, no Irish, no dogs" on boarding house windows, for instance). They had tales to tell of the educational system - some had come over as children, but far from the UK system being superior, as one man tells it, it is designed only to educate the top 20%. As blacks, they were automatically lumped into remedial classes. One woman, who came as an adult and had trained as a postmistress, applied for a job in a post office when she arrived. So she left the hospital where she was initially housed, full of expectations. When she arrived at the post office, however, they showed her where the cleaning equipment was.. Naturally enough, she immediately quit, and returned to the hospital, quite upset. When the nun in charge heard what had happened, she said, "Well, if you're just going to be offered work as a cleaner, then you might as well work here!" Happily, they paid better, at least.

The second piece is about an Italian drum maker. I found the musical snippets more interesting than the actual description of drum making, personally. The third piece has yet more immigrants - in this case, all from Jamaica. And for the last piece, it's just as well I listened to the continuity announcer (despite her impenetrable accent!). Because she informed us that the last film dealt with sexual abuse following a party. Just as well - the film itself is an equally impenetrable piece of art school drivel, all animated paper cut-outs, and I couldn't make any sense of it at all. Finally, I should add that the entire video is captioned, and I didn't seem able to turn the captions off!

I actually only finished the first video on Sunday afternoon. (Ironically, I had to use my mother's old laptop to watch it, as my work laptop wouldn't stream the videos - firewall, perhaps.) Unfortunately, I stayed on that laptop for the next call - which meant the reception was so bad, I had to turn off my video! Can't win.

Later that afternoon, London Social Detours (LSD) was hosting a "virtual visit to the Galapagos", complete with a chat about Charles Darwin. So, off I went again with them. A decent presentation included a couple of short films, and a slideshow - one of the group had been there a few years ago, and could elaborate on what it was like - sadly, another couple on the call had been supposed to go there this year, until Covid scuppered their plans! We can only hope that we can all get travelling again one day. Anyway, the quiz afterwards was fun, with the fastest person to type the answer getting the point. (I only managed once to be first.) There were quite a few prizes, although the winner elected to take a tote bag rather than a book, having too many already! The runner-up also got to choose a prize - the rest of us, I'm afraid, had to make do. As for the chat that finished the session - as usual, it ended with one topic dominating discussion; this time, it was, of all things, Morris dancing. The American on the call was intrigued..

That night, tv scored a hit with the Sunday night film - they showed The Post. Directed by Steven Spielberg, this tells the true story of the "Washington Papers" - documents leaked during the Vietnam War that showed that the US government had known for years it was unwinnable, but had been sending over troops to save face. The film follows the story of the Washington Post, which watches jealously as the New York Times (NYT) publishes extracts.. Meryl Streep is the publisher of The Post, Tom Hanks the editor, but jeez, they just cannot get a scoop like that! Readership is falling, the paper is in trouble - until Nixon slaps an injunction on the NYT, preventing them from publication! When somebody slips into The Post's offices with a box that just happens to contain some of the papers.. well, what would you do?!

This is a great, tense, political / journalistic thriller, which of course resonates with today's presidency. And you just have to love the final scene, with a security guard reporting a burglary at the Watergate Hotel.. "the next instalment", you might say!

Monday was a UK bank holiday, which I took as such, even in Ireland. Helen was good enough to suggest a video call - it's been ages since we saw each other, of course, and yes, it was so good to see each other again! With all the platforms available to us, we chose Google Meet - which was fine (especially since I was on my work laptop). Differs from Zoom - which I seem to use most - in that your own video, while visible, only displays as a thumbnail at the top! So we had a lovely, long natter - Zoom would have kicked us out after 40 minutes.

Afterwards, I finally caught up with the second World Cinema Film Festival video. Again, no film names, no timings, and no indication of where anything starts in the video. However, on the whole, this is far better than the first day's fare! Interestingly, in this one, no captions are displayed - and yes, I did try to turn them on and couldn't. The presenter's accent is, as mentioned above, impenetrable, so I could have done with them here.

Anyway, we start with Hush, about a young girl with an impossible family. By not speaking for a day, she manages to bring them together in a surprising way! The second film is the least successful - a photoshoot with a North Korean defector to South Korea, she tells us (in what I assume is Korean) about her experience. However, half the subtitles seem to be missing - I can only assume that this is deliberate on the filmmaker's part, designed to show how we're not getting the whole narrative. Very weird to watch, though.

The third film, Roots, in contrast, has no dialogue at all - we see an (Indian?) immigrant couple change their image to fit in. Quite striking. And the last, Carla's Room, is again without dialogue - we see a series of snippets of life from a girl's bedroom, which summarise her story, and her relationship with her mother. Works well. As for this Meetup group - it was my first time with them, and it's obviously one of those that just exist to advertise events. 

So, I was pretty busy over the long weekend, and decided to wait until I'd finished watching the film festival to blog. Then I was busy yesterday, and tired at the end of it - so here we are, at last. Hello again.

This coming Saturday.. tan ta ra! The Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And coming up next is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing from today to Saturday, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I can make is the Saturday matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They're supposed to send me a Zoom link tomorrow - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott.. Postponed from weeks ago, as he's been in hospital (neither serious nor Covid-related, we're assured!). At last..

Wouldn't you know it, it's clashing with the next weekend LSD Meetup. Can't be helped - I'm not missing Andrew Scott for that..